Ahmed Riyadh al-Karbouli

Baghdad TV

September 18, 2006, in Ramadi, Iraq

Six gunmen in two cars shot al-Karbouli, a reporter and cameraman, as he chatted with friends after midday prayers outside a mosque, CPJ sources said.

Al-Karbouli, 25, had received numerous death threats from insurgents over the past four months warning him to leave the satellite channel. Baghdad TV is owned by the Iraqi Islamic Party, a major Sunni political group in the country. The party joined the U.S.-backed Iraqi government earlier this year.

Ramadi, 70 miles (110 kilometers) west of Baghdad, forms the southwestern point of the Sunni Triangle, a focus of Sunni Muslim opposition to the U.S. presence in Iraq. Many journalists with Baghdad TV, including the channel's other correspondent in Ramadi, received death threats, a source at the station said.

Al-Karbouli worked at Baghdad TV for two years covering security and the plight of the residents of Ramadi. According to CPJ sources, his features offended some insurgents in Ramadi. A month earlier, gunmen stormed into his house and threatened him in front of his family.